letting go

thank you for helping me leave behind what is not meant to be taken along :)

ubin, third time around

pulau ubin has been a litmus test of sorts these two years.

test 1:
when you focus all your unrelated personal unhappiness onto someone who loves you and wants you to be happy, you don't really love him. when you do it in front of his friends AND your family, you really really don't love him.

test 2:
when your long neglected friends still bother to ask you out after your selfish period of absence and have an awesome time with you as if you had never been an irresponsible friend, you know you've been wrong.

test 3:
when the lovely girl before you tells you with her eyes and her smile that she enjoys and treasures every minute with you, and with whoever else you hold dear, you know you've found something special, something that isn't to be handled lightly, something to hold close to your heart and to guard jealously against whatever might endeavour to take it from you.

it's a beautiful place. the thing about litmus paper is, it's always the same material, but what it can show you are vastly different images -- things you may not have noticed otherwise.

three different days, three very different journeys on this beautiful, timeless, almost unspoiled island.

PS22

makes me wish i had joined the choir, and that i had an awesome coach such as he! these kids have some serious pride man!

kitey day!

secret to making a kite fly -- keep promising to take it out every weekend (for a month) without actually taking it out. and then, the moment you finally let a tiny gust of air brush past it, BOOMZ.

kitey flew so hard it tore, but it kept on flying! thank God for clear tape.

word.

our prime minister is not a terrorist! but you'd never know, with headlines like this:

PM Lee invited to nuke summit

gnome wash

oh, to be running free in the tall grass, naked save for the pair of round glasses sitting astride my nose, my skin soaking up the morning sun as it begins a brand new cycle in its eternal celestial journey! i turn back and see my red-roofed house getting smaller with each stride until it disappears suddenly beneath a fallen leaf. thank God for inventing neighbors, those tireless haulers of leaves and twigs and other falling objects.

i reach the pond, and duck a swooping butterfly before launching myself into the clear, cold water before me. the clothes needed cleaning, and so do i. i pray intently for the absence of frogs, and then i do a happy somersault to welcome the new day.

it's gnome wash day!

你的爱 (for my grandpa)

你的爱，它飘过来
像一阵春风
我不能躲开

你的爱，像一片海
它无边无际
它无忧无虑

你的爱，我不明白
我这么坏
你却看不出来

你的爱，让我明白
我哭了以后
就笑得出来

因为我拥有你的爱
因为我拥有你的爱
因为我拥有你的爱
你永远不会离开

flu babies

this is what makes a flu baby happy, and fluless. it's that simple really -- no need for cough syrup, or little yellow tablets. just a teaspoon of pretty pink geranium dispensed by a pretty little angel to eradicate even the most determined germ.

byebye gong gong

公公，辛苦你了。 time for you to rest and watch over all of us, and keep us safe till we see you again.

dear God, i know my 公公 is in good hands. please take care of ah ma and xiao yi ok? they need all the strength and all the love they can get now. Please help us to comfort them, help us to love them, even though i know we haven't taken good care of them in the past years.

and dear God please please protect my parents from harm.